Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird - Why "mockingbird" ?

A “mockingbird” is the reoccurring theme in the classic American novel written by Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird, published in 1960. In the world there are “mockingbirds” of society. They never cause any harm, and in fact, they usually have good intents. Like the true mockingbirds of the wild, they bless others while they sing their pleasant songs. Yet, even though they only raise their joyous song for pleasure, they are hunted because they can be preyed upon. As a metaphor to true life, people like this, the innocent “mockingbirds”, are constantly being harassed and prosecuted for all the wrong reasons. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in the corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(90) It is wrong to harm them because they never did anything to deserve their punishment. Yet even though this may be true, there is no such thing as a perfect world, and the unjust treatment will never stop. The innocents at times do pay for the crimes of the guilty. Harper Lee illustrates this in her writings of this novel. She uses the mockingbird to symbolize Tom and Boo. When Atticus tells Jem and Scout that it is a sin to kill the mockingbird, this refers to the actions directed toward Tom and Boo. It was a sin to dislike Tom and Boo based on what others say about them. They were punished by the people in Maycomb because they did not have their own voice. There are many people without their own voice in our society. As it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is a sin to kill those without a voice. Scout realized that it was wrong to assume evil things about Boo Radley. It was unfortunate that the people of Maycomb did not realize their unfair treatment of Tom Robinson. A mockingbird was shot and that truly was a sin. The mockingbird also extends to relationships between human beings. Some people are kind and would never harm anyone, like a mockingbird. Yet, there are people who unjustly see past the kindness and simply see what they want to see. This leads to issues about race and sex among others. These people than become prejudice towards certain people. Also, they may even "kill" the people who are genuinely kind human beings simply because they are different. Thus, the mockingbird illustrates prejudice relationships among human beings. In, conclusion, the mocking represents peace, innocence and kindness. Boo Radley is a mockingbird figure because he was a kind person, yet he was persecuted by society for being shy and coming out of his house. Tom Robinson was another mockingbird figure because he was wanted to help Mayella Ewell. He wanted to do so because he was a kind person, yet he was destroyed by his kindness. Also, relationships among human beings can be compared to a mockingbird as some people are kind and peaceful while others are prejudice towards them because they are different. These

people see past the good traits of people. In general, the title illustrates that the prejudice that some people have towards others who are peaceful and kind is wrong. Those people are "killing a mockingbird," it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. In my opinion the theme of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was a message to her readers, which was shown through several of the characters as “mockingbird” figures, who were wrongfully destroyed by the ignorance and hatred of those guilty.